Hi.

Mar 1 [Sponsored] Getaway House: Wanna Getaway?

I didn’t grow up being an outdoors-y person. I have never been camping, I don’t enjoy bugs, and the idea of sleeping on dirt, not having running water, and needing to find my way to take care of myself without a bathroom distresses me.

Then I found out about Getaway House. These are tiny home experiences that are located about two hours outside of the city, but have the accommodations of a hotel, while having the aesthetic of camping and removing from day to day urban life.

After confirming a reservation, we weren’t notified of the address we were staying until the morning of our visit. A few hours before check-in, I received a text with the passcode to enter into the tiny home. On the day of our reservation, I also received an email with a Spotify playlist curated for our drive up to the home. I was aware that I didn’t need to bring much - just the clothes I wanted to relax in, the food I wanted to cook, and everything else was taken care of for us.

There was a mini-fridge, queen sized beds, a lock box for the cell phones, a radio, running water (that doubled as drinking water), shampoo and body wash (friendly for the drainage out of the tiny home), and towels. Not to mention plenty of cooking appliances, firewood, and a s’mores kit.

We locked our phones within the lockbox, changed the timezones upon arrival so we wouldn’t be able to gauge the time of day, and truly tried to put ourselves in the mentality of unplugging. This is a rare opportunity, I don’t do this often since between creating content and working my full-time pharma gig, I am often on my phone, emails, or laptop. This was a good way to disconnect and reset.

I love cooking, but don’t often find myself having the opportunity to cook since I am, again, so often filling my days with other activities that I have prioritized. I figured this was a good opportunity to indulge and test out some recipes.

I do wish that the Getaway House was more cognizant of the waste produced from individual olive oil packets, or salt and pepper packets for seasoning. They did advertise that they had this readily available, but I would honestly rather bring my own in bulk to feel comfortable with producing less waste with each paper packet or each plastic packet.

We didn’t decide to do any of the offered hikes within the Getaway House guidebook, but we did read there is a stream available to swim in during nicer weather - that would be great to explore in the spring or summer time. In between the cooking and the eating, I did manage to get some work done, and some writing, as well as planned a few trips that were upcoming during the time of the visit. Staying productive, but on our own schedule.

Eventually, we started a fire. This was the first time we both put together a fire, but fortunately, there were fire starter kits available with the dry, packaged, firewood. I thought we’d be able to cook over a fire, but I forgot my cast-iron skillet, and turns out you also need the tools to cook over a fire if that is your intention. FYI for those who are more outdoors savvy than myself.

Overall, the trip was relaxing, and also the aesthetic was idyllic with the large open windows looking out to the woods. It was fascinating to see a whole cohort of tiny homes consolidated in this area for the Getaway Experience, but ultimately, the curated style of the experience set up by the team allows for a fantastic way to truly decompress from day to day urbanized life. I would do this again the next time I want to relax and disconnect from my regular routine.

This post was written in partnership with Getaway House, with compensated stay in exchange for media coverage.